MT: Recap Week Eight

I am halfway finished with marathon training.  WOW!

I ran 46.1 miles.  It is weird to say that running that much in one week is not as hard as I thought it would be.  It is time consuming, but not hard.

I continued to be really bad with pacing my speed work.  My times were fast, but really off what they should have been.  I don't have a chance to try again because this coming week's speed work is different.  Oh, well.  I know I can run fast.  I also know that I am really bad at finding that one pace quickly and easily. 

My long run this week was 18 miles.  I have never run that far....EVER....and it was tough at the end.  I ran 18.1 miles and the last two miles were hard.  My times were between 9:51 and 9:08 with my average pace being 9:29.  I am really proud of that consistency.  I started to feel sick around mile 14 and did not want to take any additional GU.  I was worried I might "deface" a yard so to speak.  So, I was low on energy and just had to run.  The good news is that I just ran and my pace did not suffer.  I was mentally tough and God definitely answered my prayers.  The bad news is that I don't know why my stomach felt so awful and I have one week to figure it out.

This coming week will be my hardest week to date.  I will be running 50 miles and a 20 mile long run. I CAN do this!

Bring it week 9....on the downhill side!